In the Irish Times Ian Maleney has a Q & A with Michel Faber -- and the author laments:
For a long time now, especially since the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, I've despised literature for its impotence to change the world for the better, its inability to dissuade or enlighten the people who do harm.Sounds like he's asking/expecting way too much -- or fundamentally misunderstands literature. Surely literature is longterm; the contemporary polemic may get some attention, but to effect (immediate) change ? That's a tall order -- and I'm not sure I'd even like literature (or anything) to be that immediately effective .....